Erin and Sean will be celebrating their wedding anniversary on
the Chinese New Year every year. Their Pittsburgh living room was filled with close family and friends who witnessed meaningful readings, vows from the heart and the lighting of dragon and phoenix candles.
Traditional herbs and dried fruits with special meanings were selected for a tea ceremony, symbolizing a warm and sweet beginning of a new life and the uniting of two families. Their guests presented the bride and groom with red envelopes containing blessings. Erin and Sean read the blessings later in the evening and will share them again on their first wedding anniversary.
Jessica and Tim, their bridal party and their families all went ice skating at Manhattan Square after their personalized ceremony at the Inn on Broadway. Love and snowflakes in the air, skaters paused to watch them arrive in a horse drawn carriage.
Amy's and Gordy's wedding was a colorful and personal expression of the love they share. It began with a Peace Circle at dawn where those in attendance shared thoughts on love. The crystals and
fea
ther smudge fans used in the circle were later arranged by the guests on the ceremony altar. Here they are in the circle.
I was gifted with a beautiful tye dye shawl to wear during the ceremony. The bridesmaids and groomsman wore a rainbow of colors and walked through Amy's Dad's orchard to the ceremony site. The groom danced down the aisle in his tux with a tye dye vest. See the video on my Dancing In and Out page.
A very touching part of the ceremony was when their friend Amy read a poem that the bride and groom had written to express their love. The ceremony concluded with the bridal party bestowing blessings in a handfasting.
Dorothy and Craig held their wedding aboard the upper deck of
Colonial Belle on the Erie Canal.The ceremony opened with:
"Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today. Marriage. That blessed event, that dream within a dream.” (Princess Bride.) After exchanging their vows and Claddaugh rings the guests ventured down stairs for a movie themed reception. The cake was decorated like a drive in movie theater. This was the first and only time I have been called a producer!
Photos by Maureen Loveless, Art For Images Photography
Kathleen and Michael handed out colored stones as their guests took their seats. Their friends and family placed blessings into colored stones and called them out as the stones were collected towards the end of the ceremony. This creative couple then took the stones and created a mosaic picture frame.
I have also done "Rock Blessings" with real rocks.
Char and James placed their wedding bands into a bird's nest. Char wrote this as part of the ceremony opening:
During the ceremony the couple has asked that their
wedding bands be passed amongst all of you present. Please take a quick pause to hold them as they are passed to you. Communicate the energy of your warm hopes and wishes for the couple. Cast onto them your positive thoughts for a lasting and adventurous marriage.